Hi,I am considering starting a new business venture. I am in the planning stages. My question is... can I rent a store front to house several different consultants one representing each company, under one roof?

Will all the consultants be working for you or just sharing the space? Like, will you be an umbrella company who offers consulting on various things or are you the store front owner who is renting/selling space to individuals within it?

my thoughts are being the store front owner, and renting the spaces out. This would allow the consultants a place to display , a place to have there parties, and. or train a new associate. The space is an ole house. I wanted to set it up like a luxury cozy home displaying some of the items potential customers could order from one of the vendors. I was also thinking of being a consultant for a couple of direct selling products. I just want to make sure it is legal to do something like this. Have you heard of anyone else with an alike idea. If so could you suggest a website or something I can get some ideas from.

Hi, I also recommend checking with your local zoning office... they should be able to give you more info. It's usually not a problem to run a small business from the home but issues arise when you have too much traffic/people coming and going but the zoning office will be able to give you specifics.

The home that I am interested in is in the commercial zone. What I am trying to research is it okay to sell products like mary kay, avon, pampered chef, and other direct sell products from a store front.

Many direct sales companies don't allow consultants to sell products at retail locations, so it would depend on whether they would consider your business a retail location. In part it may depend on how the sales process is set up. You can research some of the companies and for those with retail restrictions, contact them and ask.

The other thing to keep in mind as you research the idea is that one of the big appeals of direct sales is the low overhead in running the company. Adding retail space rental puts a big dent in the bottom line, but if you have a good plan for bringing in customers you can offset that.

I've always thought that renting space for sales parties might work well, especially for craft and scrapbook parties where a good deal of space is needed. Many people just don't have the space for more than a few people to spread out to scrapbook.